Selling Your Information ( Archived) (10)

I hear about fraud everywhere.

I hear about scammers on this site.

I get telephone calls and mail galore,

Almost every day and night......


Get this...

I get the mail. I have a piece of correspondence from a bank that I have not dealt with in over twenty years, yet they have my mailing address. Who gave it to them, how did they obtain it?

It's easy. Every place you talk, write or interact with gets a little piece of info. Then, like the stupid shampoo commercial of my generation starts "telling two friends and that person tells two friends and so on and so on"

I write this nonsense because in my years on being CS, not only have I seen scammers do their work, I have had a multitude of friends request via email to subsribe to another "social network". I did once, adding a profile to my space. I had many other requests, for SO MANY sites and lately many supposedly gorgeous (by virtue of photos submitted) Chinese girls asking to add a profile on a certain site.

The more requests I had, the more I felt reluctance.

I would like to meet someone close in geographical terms but never for a moment dismiss anyone, from anywhere. That being said, I keep myself on just a few places and better yet, on less "call lists" that plague the information world....aa

It's a disease of modern world, Tumpa.

Everybody should be aware of it.

Now, some will call this awareness 'living in fear', 'being overly cautious', etc., etc., ...

It is not. In the world which strips you of all the privacy, it's just being/playing smart.

Thanks Laura.

My goal in writing my thread was not to be overcautious, nor to promote fear, but rather keeping things simple.

Play smart, as you said....

I agree, Tumpa. It's amazing who gets my address at times.

Like you, I keep it simple. I avoid a certain social site because of the fraud warnings I've seen on here about it. I was considering putting up a profile there to see if I could get back in touch with old friends...but I've seen too many horror stories about it now. If it becomes more secure, I'll consider it.

I do have one on a more secure social site...one that allows a username, and my username there is the same as here (if anyone else wants from here wants to find me on My Space, feel free, now you know how).

But these are the only two sites I belong to right now. I'm not giving out my information to any other sites. And few have my personal contact info. Just the ones I trust completely (and actually, some of them don't have it yet either because it's just as easy to talk to them here).

FYI

In these trying times, there are emails going around supposedly from global corporations asking you to fill in an online application form.

Some form of recruitment drive, they ask you for your bank details, driving licence number and passport number.

I would advise no person to respond to this. Any company that is truly recruiting would not recruit in this manner, they would use the correct channels.

Please, please, do not respond.

Good point, Sommer...and no, I wouldn't give that info out to anyone who asked online.

Its true that our info is out there, and we dont even realise how easy it is for people to access it...I went to bath and body works and purchased some things...and when I checked out, the clerk asked me for my telephone number and email address. Without question I gave it to her. Now think about this...I have used my credit card there, so they have that info, and now they also have my phone number, and email address, simply because I shopped there. And goodness knows how many other people standing in line behind me also now have some of my info. I can remember years ago shopping and noone ever asked for this info. Kinda scary if you think about it.

We have to learn to live with this problem, what else... :=(